Hornish, a three-time IndyCar Series champion who hails from just over the Michigan border in Defiance, Ohio, is making progress in NASCAR, and his career-best fourth-place finish Aug. 3 at Pocono gave him what he hopes will be a glimpse into his future.

"I was pretty happy about it," Hornish said of his showing in Pocono. "It was a real good weekend for us. We want to keep it going. We want to get to the top 20 in points by the end of the season. We've got a little ways to go yet."

Hornish enters Sunday's CARFAX 400 at Michigan International Speedway in 28th place on the Sprint Cup Series points list after a wild crash Monday at Watkins Glen that cut short his day.

He finished his 2008 rookie season 33rd in points, a far cry from his days and position on the leaderboards in the IndyCar Series, which he left as the all-time winningest driver in that series.

Hornish conquered just about everything in front of him before coming to NASCAR, including winning the Indianapolis 500 for car owner Roger Penske in 2006.

He won 19 times in open-wheel before moving to Penske Racing's NASCAR operation full time for 2008.

The move to NASCAR, however, has included quite a learning curve. His fourth-place finish at Pocono was his first top-five finish, and he has notched just five top-10s in his 58-race Sprint Cup Series career.

All five top-10s have come this year.

"Some days, we're a little bit ahead. Some days, we're a little bit behind," Hornish said. "I feel like I've continued to learn, and I feel good about that in a lot of ways.

"There's still a lot of stuff left to be learned. We're just moving forward as a team and learning as much as we possibly can."

Hornish's career parallels that somewhat of Juan Pablo Montoya. Montoya, champion of Championship Auto Racing Teams a decade ago in 1999 and perennial top-10 points finisher in Formula 1, who struggled to meet expectations in his first two years in NASCAR.

Montoya finished 20th in the Sprint Cup points series his rookie year of 2007. Last year, he fell to 25th. This year, Montoya has blossomed, running consistently in the top 10, and he is a strong candidate to qualify for the 12-driver Chase for the Championship that begins in four weeks.

Montoya entered this season in NASCAR with just nine top-10s, five top-fives and one career victory in 73 races.

"I try not to base what I'm doing off of what he's doing, just because we're two different drivers for two different teams," Hornish said. "But you do look at how he did his first year and then his second year.

"It is kind of a stepping stone. I watch that a little bit to see if that's where I need to be on my progression."

Hornish calls MIS his home track, but he has yet to win on the 2-mile oval. His best finish in three Cup starts here is 22nd. He finished 29th in June. He finished in the top 10, including runner-up in 2003, in five of his six IndyCar starts at MIS.

"To make that decision certainly took a lot of bravery," crew chief Travis Geisler said. "He and his wife (Crystal) jumped into this thing with both feet, and they're digging through it.

"It's really rewarding for me to be a part of having that decision maybe start to come to fruition here. I think we're all starting to see this isn't going to be a guy that turns his tail between his legs and goes back."

Hornish said he gets plenty of support from family and friends about his decision to leave IndyCar and the frequent trips to Victory Lane.

"I knew it was going to be difficult, and I knew it was going to be a challenge," Hornish said. "I wanted the challenge of it.

"I wanted to be able to say at the end of the day, regardless of whether it turns out good or bad, I wanted to know if I could do it."